W

ith the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival coming to a close, here’s a quick question for film buffs: How many of you made it to all 163 entries?

A few of you might be lying.

It’s impossible to take in everything the festival has to offer. But those organizing the event realize this as well.

For the last few years, Minnesota Film Arts has chosen a number of titles to screen in the special Best of the Fest series after the main festival has concluded.

Emily Condon, programmer for both the film festival and Oak Street Cinema, said Best of the Fest gives people a chance to catch titles they otherwise might have missed.

“What we find is that many people missed something, because some things you just can’t see,” Condon said.

Additionally, Condon said some films have generated so much buzz, or were so widely attended (last weekend saw a number of sell-outs), that another screening will make it accessible to an entirely new audience.

Condon said she has to work with a wide array of constraints. Some films with scheduled theatrical runs or other titles with specific restrictions cannot be screened again.

She said this year’s Best of the Fest will also make history.

“We have decided to play the Minnesota Shorts Showcase again, which is something we’ve never done before,” she said. “But the response was so overwhelmingly good, that we had to bring it back.”